The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour took to the skies of California Friday for its final flight before heading to its retirement home — a Los Angeles museum. Endeavour flew over California landmarks atop a 747 transporting jet. The shuttle’s planned flight path included San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Disneyland and the Hollywood sign. The shuttle […]
Space Shuttle Endeavour Takes Final Flight
International Space Crew Returns Safely to Earth
A trio of U.S. and Russian astronauts have landed on the Kazakhstan steppe after a four-month mission at the International Space Station. The Russian Soyuz capsule, carrying American Joseph Acaba and Russians Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, touched down Monday. The Soyuz capsules remain the only means of transporting astronauts to the space station since […]
US Rover, Probe Make Marks in Space
While the eyes of many Americans have been on the presidential nominating conventions, the United States is continuing to make its mark in space. The U.S. space agency NASA Thursday released satellite photos showing track marks left on Mars by the Curiosity robotic rover. In the one month since it landed, Curiosity has zig-zagged its […]
Indian PM: India to Launch Mission to Mars
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says his country plans to launch a spacecraft that will orbit Mars, marking another advancement in India’s ambitious space program. Mr. Singh said Tuesday the unmanned spacecraft will collect important scientific information. The prime minister called the plan a huge step for India in science and technology. The spacecraft is […]
Russian Supply Ship Docks with International Space Station
An unmanned Russian cargo ship has re-docked with the International Space Station after a failed attempt five days earlier. The docking Sunday was successful, after an earlier attempt failed because of problems with a new docking system. The new docking system will be sent back to Earth for modification. The supply ship will load garbage […]
Japan Sends Cargo to Space Station
Japan has successfully launched an H-2B rocket to deliver an unmanned supply vessel to the International Space Station. The rocket lifted off late Saturday morning from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan. The cargo vessel contains supplies such as food, clothing and tools necessary for experiments to be done in space. The cargo should […]
3 ISS Astronauts Return to Earth
Three astronauts from the International Space Station have arrived back on Earth. A Soyuz space capsule, slowed by a parachute, touched down in Kazakhstan Sunday afternoon with members of Expedition 31 from the ISS. The Soyuz undocked from the Space Station earlier Sunday. The astronauts, including American Don Petit, Russian Oleg Kononenko and Dutchman Andre […]
China’s Astronauts Return to Earth
China’s Shenzhou-9 spacecraft with three astronauts on board has landed in a remote northern area after a successful mission to manually dock with an orbiting space station module. The three, including China’s first female astronaut, landed safely Friday morning in the country’s vast Inner Mongolia region. Rescue workers quickly surrounded the capsule as TV cameras […]
China Astronauts Conduct First Manual Spacecraft Docking
China has conducted its first-ever manual docking between a spacecraft and an orbiting space module. The three astronauts on the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft successfully docked with the Tiangong-1 lab module Sunday without using an automated system. One of the three is China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang. The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft was launched June 16, and it […]
China Astronauts Conduct First Manual Spacecraft Docking
China has conducted its first-ever manual docking between a spacecraft and an orbiting space module. The three astronauts on the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft successfully docked with the Tiangong-1 lab module Sunday without using an automated system. One of the three is China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang. The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft was launched June 16, and it […]